Free Where Tigers Are at Home by Jean-Marie Blas de Robles Page A

his free hand.
    “Yes? No, darling … At the moment I still don’t know when I’ll be able to get away. But I’ll send the driver if you want … 
The sudden capture of the crotch, swollen lips, the yielding fruit of the mango tree …
Now don’t be silly … Of course I love you, where did you get that idea … 
Earthy moisture, the jungle of the genitals, spongy under the kneading fingers …
But of course, my love, I promise … Put on your glad rags, there’ll be quite a crowd … Go on, I’m listening. I’ve said I’m listening, now be reasonable, please.”
    Tears in her eyes, leaning forward as if being searched by the police, Anita desperately scrutinized the bust facing her.
Antônio Francisco Lisboa … Antônio Francisco Lisboa …
With an absurd sense of urgency, she read and reread the inscription on the plaster, gorging on it as if it were an exorcism that could purify her.

CHAPTER 3
    The happy chance that took Kircher to Provence, the distinguished figures he met there & how he achieved his first successes
    HARDLY HAD WE reached the security of the Jesuit college in Mainz than the superiors of our Order decided to send Athanasius Kircher far away from the war and the German states. This favor was due solely to his renown, which was already considerable both within our Order & in learned societies the world over. He was given letters of recommendation to the College of Avignon & I was granted permission to accompany him in the capacity of private secretary.
    In Paris, where we arrived without mishap, we were received with open arms by the Jesuits of the
Collège de la Place Royale
. There Kircher was to meet some of the learned scholars with whom he had been in correspondence for several years: Henry Oldenburg, first secretary of the Royal Society in London, whowas visiting Paris, La Mothe Le Vayer & the Franciscan Marin Mersenne. With the latter he had long disputations on all kinds of questions that at the time were beyond my understanding. He also saw Monsieur Pascal, who seemed to him a peerless mathematician but a sad specimen of humanity & one whose faith smacked of heresy. The same was true of Monsieur Descartes, the apostle of the New Philosophy, who made a mixed impression on him.
    He likewise met Monsieur Thévenot de Melquisedeq, who had travelled to China & had returned with an inordinate taste for oriental philosophies. Fascinated by Kircher’s knowledge of these difficult subjects, he invited him to spend several days at the
Désert de Retz
, a property he owned on the outskirts of Paris. I was not allowed to accompany him & am therefore not in a position to say what happened there, especially since Athanasius always maintained a discreet silence on the subject. But on the pretext of religion or some Chinoiseries, my master was compelled to witness scenes decency forbade him to describe, for every time he mentioned an example of human lechery or excesses to which idolatry or ignorance can lead, he would cite the
Désert de Retz
as the principal source of his experience.
    After just a few weeks spent in Paris, we finally arrived at the Collège d’Avignon, where Father Kircher was to teach mathematics & Biblical languages. A Northerner brought up in the Germanic mists, Athanasius was immediately taken with the brightness of the South. It was as if the world were opening up again for him, as if he could suddenly see its divine light. More than a simple star to observe through the telescope, the Sun proved to be the lamp of God, His presence & His aura among men.
    Discovering in the plain of Arles the wonderful predisposition of the sunflower to follow the course of the sun, my masterconceived and immediately constructed a clock based on this singular principle. He filled a small, circular basin with water on which he floated a smaller disc bearing a pot containing one of those plants. No longer held back by its fixed roots, the sunflower was free to turn toward the